Dealing With The Aftermath
by OfficiallyNobody
Summary: Everyone's been walking on eggshells around Leo after the events of the 2007 movie, but that hasn't stopped Don, Raph, and Mikey from fighting with each other. And one day, Leo reaches the point where he's had enough. Storming from the Lair in a rare show of anger, what kind of trouble will he get into before his brothers find him? And what happens afterward?


**SUMMARY: **Everyone's been walking on eggshells around Leo after the events of the 2007 movie, but that hasn't stopped Don, Raph, and Mikey from fighting with each other. And one day, Leo reaches the point where he's had enough. Storming from the Lair in a rare show of anger, what kind of trouble will he get into before his brothers find him? And what happens afterward?

**RATING: **T

_DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN 'TMNT', OR IT WOULD BE A LOT MORE ANGST-Y WITH A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE HURT/COMFORT PLOTS._

**A/N: I'm not really sure where this came from, but it promised to prove interesting to write. Oh, and some 2003 series references may sneak their way in. **

**-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-**

"Hothead!" Don shouted, causing Leo to groan and let his head flop to the table. Sure, ever since the whole 'getting kidnapped by the Stone Generals' thing occurred, none of his brothers wanted to fight _with him_, which was good. But it would have been better if they would just stop fighting amongst themselves as well.

"Brainiac!" At the moment, it was Raph and Don who were engaging in a verbal (and possibly soon-to-be physical, although Leo had his doubts there) sparring match. And even though he knew they did this kind of thing a fair amount (never as much as he and Raph had, but that's because Leo and Raph had been too similar to agree which lead to fights on almost everything), it was still pushing Leo's buttons in ways they hadn't been pushed in years. In part because he hadn't been around his brothers for so long, but also because Don and Raph had never really fought before he left.

"Guys, come on," Mikey said, trying to break up the verbal war. "There's no reason to fight."

"Shut it, shell-fer-brains," Raph warned at the same time that Don, exasperatedly, said, "Mikey, stay out of it!"

Mikey backed up half a step before his face hardened and Leo could see that the youngest of the brothers wasn't just going to let it go. For some reason, that caused his fragile control to snap. In a move that came almost without thought and skills born of having to break up gangs as well as just _surviving_ down in Central America, Leo drew one katana and threw it at the kitchen cabinet by where Raph, Don, and Mikey stood.

All three froze in shock. Sure, they had realized that Leo was a little more high-strung than he had been before leaving (which was saying a lot, because Leo made your average paranoid person look perfectly ordinary), but none of them had expected him to whip his sword at the cupboard.

"Would you all just stop with the damn fighting?" With a growl, Leo flipped up over the table, landed on the counter, and pulled his katana free. Slipping it back into its sheath, it was a simple matter of hand-springing over to the door. And he would have left without a second glance, had something, or rather someone, not caused him to take one last glance back.

Splinter had left his room when he heard the sounds of his middle two sons fighting, and he had reached the main room of the Lair just in time to see Leo fling his sword at the cabinet. He was too surprised to react until Leo had already retrieved his sword and was at the door, barely calling out in time to stop his eldest. "Leonardo, wait."

Leo paused for a few seconds before lightly shaking his head with a soft growl and leaping forward, out of the Lair. The rest of the family just stared in shock. "Dude, did Leo really just…?"

"Fearless just stormed outta de Lair," Raph said, sounding somewhat in awe. "And he swore before pullin' his sword outta de cupboard."

Both Don and Mikey winced at that. Leo only swore when he was truly mad, so the fact that he had was a bad sign. A very bad sign. "Do you think, you know, maybe we should go after him?" Mikey asked.

"It's Leo," Don said, but he sounded uncertain, even to himself. "He can take care of himself."

"Yeah, but he's been different since he got back, Donnie!" Mikey protested. "He's been weird. Like, really weird, Donnie. All cold and stuff. Just not Leo-like, you know?"

"Mike's got a point, Don," Raph said. "Leo's been different since he got back from de jungle. And I'm not sure in a good way. At least, not fer everythin'."

Don raised an eyebrow at that. He had a feeling that there was something he wasn't being told, and that wasn't comforting him. Still, Leo hated being babied, more so than even Raph. And the eldest was sure to interpret them coming after him so soon as babying. "Guys, I really think we should…"

"Do as ya like, Brainiac," Raph said, cutting Don off. "I'm gonna go look fer Fearless before he gets himself hurt or somethin'."

Now Don knew that something was being hidden from him, and he had a feeling it had something to do with the changed behavior between Leo and Raph.

Mikey glanced uneasily between his brothers. On the one hand, he agreed with Raph in that they should look for Leo. Then on the other hand, he knew why Don was hesitant to do so. On the other other hand, though, Mikey had been having this sense of dread all morning, and it had gotten worse the instant Leo had left. But on the other other other hand, Leo was a better fighter since he had returned.

Don noticed the look of uncertainty on Mikey's face, and was forced to admit that just because Leo was physically capable of fending for himself in a fight, didn't mean he would be able to do so in the wrong circumstances. With a mental sigh of defeat, he picked up his bo. "Come on, Mikey. We'd better go catch up to Raph."

-TMNT-

Although he wasn't particularly happy with the circumstances, Leo had to admit that not having his brothers at his side as he ran across New York's skyline had its advantages. Varying physical limits hadn't been a problem before Leo had left, but ever since he had gotten back, his time in the jungle had improved his skills to the point where only Raph, who had run around for a year as the Nightwatcher, could stand of keeping up with Leo when the elder stopped holding back.

But his brothers weren't here now, so there was nothing stopping Leo from tearing across the rooftops at his fastest pace. There was the small fact of the matter that Leo moved differently since he got back, something Don had been the first to notice. Leo had always had an air of confidence, but after his training, he was almost predatory in how he moved. And he tended to jump or use cables a lot more.

However, none of that was on Leo's mind at the moment. Instead, the thoughts of what he had just done were all he could think about. _What if I had missed? _**They need to stop fighting. **_But what if I just caused more damage than good? _**Maybe it will cause them to see how detrimental their fights are to the family. **_Raph and Don aren't supposed to fight. They aren't supposed to _not_ fight with me. _**Yes, because I'm Fearless Leader, Splinter Jr., all of that. **_Am I, though? I'm not fearless, far from it. _**I try my best to be as good as I can be. **_But I can never be 'perfect'._

Leo shook his head. It seemed that how he moved wasn't the only thing he had brought with him from Central America.

"_Come on, boys, we're done here." _Leo's head came up at the Spanish whispering, hurrying over to the edge of the building to see what was going on. Without conscious thought, he hissed in anger at the sight.

A dozen or so people were robbing a store, but that wasn't the biggest problem Leo had with this scene. Oh no, the fact that these were Los Diablos Lobos, the gang he had dealt with down in the jungle, was what set his blood boiling. How dare they come onto _his _territory like they owned the place?

"_This time it's personal," _Leo whispered to himself in Spanish before heading to the end of the alley. Oh, they weren't getting away from him this time. Oh no.

Other than the night they had fought, Leo had never dared to confront Raph on the vigilante business. After all, it would be very hypocritical to lecture someone for doing the exact same thing he had done.

Leo grinned savagely before leaping down to ground level. Looks like Raph was going to have one up on him in _this_ department; after all, Raph had managed to quit.

**-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-**

**E/N: Like I said, I'm not sure where this came from. And before anyone asks, I'm not actually going to put the Spanish in the story. Just the italics to imply it being said. I'm too lazy to translate everything, and we didn't get around to translating certain things in Spanish class at school. **

**On another note, who else can totally see Leo start having conversations with himself to keep from going crazy in the jungle? And, because it's Leo, the two halves would be guilt-prone-Leo and big-bad-leader/protector-Leo. I'm the authoress, I can do this things. Plus, come on. It's **_**Leo**_**. The dude probably had a guilt-complex over breathing before getting his shell kicked after he accidentally let it slip to someone. (Hmm… Plot-bunny, there…)**

**Don't be FFNinjas! Leave a review! Offynon out! (Yes, the FFNinja thing is my own, and I WILL kick the shell of anyone who tries to steal it. Kapeesh?)**


End file.
